Most Thais 'approve' Of Bribery: Poll

[webfact]

Most Thais 'approve' of bribery: poll
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Abac Poll yesterday released results of a survey showing that an overwhelming majority of people approve of bribery and had bribed officials themselves.

The survey was conducted on 1,561 respondents aged over 10 in Bangkok from March 12-16 (with an error margin of 7 per cent).

Of the total, 87 per cent approved of lying for survival and had lied at some point over the past 12 months; 87.5 per cent believed pampering state procuring committees with special treats was normal; 87 per cent said they had jumped queues to buy goods and services; and 80 per cent said they had bribed officials in return for convenience and self-interest.

Of students, 92 per cent said they had copied homework in the past 12 months; and 74 per cent had taken a peek at friends' answers during exams. Some 85 per cent believed the questions in teachers' exams had been leaked.

Of respondents who are state officials and company staff, 81 per cent said they had used office time to conduct private business; 83 per cent said they had acted out of self-interest; and 88 per cent believed there was graft in all state agencies.


-- The Nation 2013-03-18

[Thai at Heart]

Is this ground hog day?

[Payboy]

100 per cent said they lie at polls.

[HeavyDrinker]

Me too.

It works nicely!! let's leave it be!

I can't understand all these prats who bleat on about 'corruption' all day.

I bung the girls at the tax 1000 B a year and they do it all for me including me bonuses.

it's great. The only people who moan don't live here.

[hanuman2543]

Again ??????

[tominbkk]

I bet they did not properly translate the word that they say is "approve". I bet it is more "put up with".

[Judo Chop]

99% of all polls are bullshit.

[Bobobirdiebuddy]

It will never improve. Government after government, it's all the same. Hopeless.

[virtualtraveller]

What's new. That's why majority voted for the Shinawatra's they're firmly taking corruption to a new level, they're especially good at making it seem respectable.

[Pib]

Let's just call bribery in Thailand tradition. Tradition is generally a good thing is it not? Maybe a poll could confirm tradition is generally considered a good thing. As soon as we confirm tradition is a good thing, then we can say bribery is a good thing. Simple deduction my Khun Watson.

[Payboy]

brib·er·y [ˈbraɪbərɪ]
n.

Rhymes with Burberry, also goes well with Prada, and other items of Luxury.

[Nisa]

87 per cent approved of lying for survival and had lied at some point over the past 12 months

I would trust these 87% more than I'd trust the other 13%.

[nevets]

TIT what did you expect the outcome to be , the the actual asking of people for their opinion dint take place it was probably all done on paper and then submitted .

[HeavyDrinker]

Simple deduction my Khun Watson.

<deleted>....

[noitom]

Not much of a surprise for Thais to favor/approve a system of bribery and corruption? Do Thais "approve" corruption as well? Do they understand the difference between bribery and corruption?

[Nisa]

At least in Thailand it is not only the corporations and the rich who can benefit from bribes and nobody kids themselves of what it is by calling it donations, contributions, fees, or create titles like lobbyists for legal bribes .... no, here you just hand over the cash and there is no trying to fool yourself or others as to what is going on.

[robblok]

87 per cent approved of lying for survival and had lied at some point over the past 12 months

I would trust these 87% more than I'd trust the other 13%.

Lying for survival not a bad thing id say. Quite normal. Edited March 18, 2013 by robblok

[robblok]

I'd say 'approve' of.

I'd rather be able to pay a small 'bung' as I believe the phrase goes, than have to wade through the heap of red tap I have to whenever I go back to the UK.

Last time I had to spend 3 days on shit for 40 pounds due to rent on my houses . 40 pounds. i was threatened with prison etc....40 pounds...

Here I bung em a few quid and its all done. Go back a few hours later, All's well, all's done. Smiles all round.

They give Graham (the dog) a pat on the head, then me, and off I go...

I get your point however this goes much further then this, this is the reason the rich get away with murder and moo ham the with his Benz does not doe time. Why the red bull guy will never see jail ect ect ect.

If it was just some money for fast service or so... ok but you can't just have a little bit of corruption. Its just like a little bit pregnant.

[HeavyDrinker]

At least in Thailand it is not only the corporations and the rich who can benefit from bribes and nobody kids themselves of what it is by calling it donations, contributions, fees, or create titles like lobbyists for legal bribes .... no, here you just hand over the cash and there is no trying to fool yourself or others as to what is going on.

^ I agree with you for the first time ever!

If my local wants to stay open late til 5 am to show the footie, a few hundred baht swings it with the local bobbies...sweet as a nut. Many people happy! No one gets hurt!

[robblok]

At least in Thailand it is not only the corporations and the rich who can benefit from bribes and nobody kids themselves of what it is by calling it donations, contributions, fees, or create titles like lobbyists for legal bribes .... no, here you just hand over the cash and there is no trying to fool yourself or others as to what is going on.

You fool yourself corruption undermines it all.. someone with loads of money can pay more and then you can go to jail even if innocent as the cops say its you who did it. He just paid more. Gone is justice.

All those nice examples where it is minor corruption just the beginning of the end.

[robblok]

At least in Thailand it is not only the corporations and the rich who can benefit from bribes and nobody kids themselves of what it is by calling it donations, contributions, fees, or create titles like lobbyists for legal bribes .... no, here you just hand over the cash and there is no trying to fool yourself or others as to what is going on.

^ I agree with you for the first time ever!

If my local wants to stay open late til 5 am to show the footie, a few hundred baht swings it with the local bobbies...sweet as a nut. Many people happy! No one gets hurt!

Sure and the people with a home near cant count on the police to do their job so they can sleep on time to wake up for work fresh.

Why do you think there are laws.

[MunterHunter]

At least in Thailand it is not only the corporations and the rich who can benefit from bribes and nobody kids themselves of what it is by calling it donations, contributions, fees, or create titles like lobbyists for legal bribes .... no, here you just hand over the cash and there is no trying to fool yourself or others as to what is going on.

^ I agree with you for the first time ever!

If my local wants to stay open late til 5 am to show the footie, a few hundred baht swings it with the local bobbies...sweet as a nut. Many people happy! No one gets hurt!

And when some drunk little rich kid knocks down and kills your Wife/Kid/Brother/Sister/Mum/Dad/Favorite Dog and then pays the police to find 'no evidence' or pays to get out of court a free man, you'd still be happy? After all a little bit of bribery is fine, right?

[robblok]

Thing is stuff like fast service they should just make legal, to pay a bit to get it done faster as long as the option to do it at normal price is not obstructed.

But other stuff like breaking the laws of closing times ect, all nice if your a patron of such establisment but not nice if you leave near it or if an illigal business is started next to your home making loads of sound but the police is paid of so you can't do a thing.

Once corruption starts there is no end to it, you can't just have a little bit of corruption. Also it undermines the law as money can buy it all and the law is then useless. Then why have laws.. if they cant be enforced because of corruption.

Anyway i can't change it and this is one of the things i hate here but otherwise i like it so ill nag about this one.

And sure i see those little corruption things minor but I am smart enough to know where it leads too. Actually anyone living here knows this is the reason people litterly get away with murder. You cant just punish one form of corruption and not an other.

Edited March 18, 2013 by robblok

[Nisa]

At least in Thailand it is not only the corporations and the rich who can benefit from bribes and nobody kids themselves of what it is by calling it donations, contributions, fees, or create titles like lobbyists for legal bribes .... no, here you just hand over the cash and there is no trying to fool yourself or others as to what is going on.

You fool yourself corruption undermines it all.. someone with loads of money can pay more and then you can go to jail even if innocent as the cops say its you who did it. He just paid more. Gone is justice.

All those nice examples where it is minor corruption just the beginning of the end.

I was neither advocating or condemning bribes or corruption just pointing out it is much more open here and not limited to the rich. You are kidding yourself if you believe the rich vs. the poor in developed countries don't also get a different set of justice. No, not all the time but neither do they in Thailand either. Be it lawyers or even doctors the rich are going to get the best. Just look at the system of traffic or criminal fines in most developed nations ... is it based on percentage of income? What does a $100 ticket mean to a super rich person compared to one who makes minimum wage? My point was simply to say that corruption exists everywhere but they just legalize and call it different names in the developed world. Do you really think that big corporations or the rich donate to political parties without expecting something in return be it government jobs or contracts? The year Microsoft faced US deregulation is the same year in they were the largest donor to both the Democratic and Republican party ... even with near 95% of computers running Windows they were of course not deemed a monopoly.

[HeavyDrinker]

Aye Rob, but as my 'local' is next to 13 lanes of traffic, and you get Dek Wairn up and down all night, a few lads watching the footie of a night don't really keep anyone up.

[FarangTalk]

At least in Thailand it is not only the corporations and the rich who can benefit from bribes and nobody kids themselves of what it is by calling it donations, contributions, fees, or create titles like lobbyists for legal bribes .... no, here you just hand over the cash and there is no trying to fool yourself or others as to what is going on.

You fool yourself corruption undermines it all.. someone with loads of money can pay more and then you can go to jail even if innocent as the cops say its you who did it. He just paid more. Gone is justice.

All those nice examples where it is minor corruption just the beginning of the end.

Spot on Rob.

Just the tip of a very large and sinister iceberg where ethics and moral values do not exist and how much money you have dictates justice.

No surprise to see the usual suspects out defending a failed system they are only too happy with because it benefits them personally on the occasion they break the law.

[robblok]

At least in Thailand it is not only the corporations and the rich who can benefit from bribes and nobody kids themselves of what it is by calling it donations, contributions, fees, or create titles like lobbyists for legal bribes .... no, here you just hand over the cash and there is no trying to fool yourself or others as to what is going on.

You fool yourself corruption undermines it all.. someone with loads of money can pay more and then you can go to jail even if innocent as the cops say its you who did it. He just paid more. Gone is justice.

All those nice examples where it is minor corruption just the beginning of the end.

I was neither advocating or condemning bribes or corruption just pointing out it is much more open here and not limited to the rich. You are kidding yourself if you believe the rich vs. the poor in developed countries don't also get a different set of justice. No, not all the time but neither do they in Thailand either. Be it lawyers or even doctors the rich are going to get the best. Just look at the system of traffic or criminal fines in most developed nations ... is it based on percentage of income? What does a $100 ticket mean to a super rich person compared to one who makes minimum wage? My point was simply to say that corruption exists everywhere but they just legalize and call it different names in the developed world. Do you really think that big corporations or the rich donate to political parties without expecting something in return be it government jobs or contracts? The year Microsoft faced US deregulation is the same year in they were the largest donor to both the Democratic and Republican party ... even with near 95% of computers running Windows they were of course not deemed a monopoly.

You fool yourself as they cant buy the cop back home to change the evidence. Sure they can buy a better lawyer but the evidence stays the same. That is the whole point.

Sure big companies do stuff like that, and should be punished im not saying there is no corruption anywhere else. I am saying there is more here and much deeper. Anyway I cant change it, i just don't like it.

[Khonwan]

I don’t trust the headline – I don’t see evidence of anyone having been asked if they approve of bribery. The fact that people participate in bribery and corruption does not equate to their approval. I know several murders in Thailand – I know of none that approve of murder. I believe fewer people would engage in bribery if they had confidence that systems here were simpler, fairer, and trustworthy.

[robblok]

Aye Rob, but as my 'local' is next to 13 lanes of traffic, and you get Dek Wairn up and down all night, a few lads watching the footie of a night don't really keep anyone up.

It was not a personal thing here, but im just trying to show, what can be the concequenses. Just read about the chemical dumping in chongsau near villages and farmers where the officials were paid off not to enfoce the law while villagers and crops suffers.

Its a bit worse but the same thing getting paid not to enforce the law. In your case nobody gets hurt but the thing is it just does not stop there. If it stoppd there in your case reasonable nobody is bothered by not closing... but it does not and that is the whole point.

Then amend the law and say as long as there are no people near that you disturb you can open as long as you want, and have a police force enforcing it. That is different as paying a cop to break the law because that never ends with just this.

[FarangTalk]

At least in Thailand it is not only the corporations and the rich who can benefit from bribes and nobody kids themselves of what it is by calling it donations, contributions, fees, or create titles like lobbyists for legal bribes .... no, here you just hand over the cash and there is no trying to fool yourself or others as to what is going on.

You fool yourself corruption undermines it all.. someone with loads of money can pay more and then you can go to jail even if innocent as the cops say its you who did it. He just paid more. Gone is justice.

All those nice examples where it is minor corruption just the beginning of the end.

I was neither advocating or condemning bribes or corruption just pointing out it is much more open here and not limited to the rich. You are kidding yourself if you believe the rich vs. the poor in developed countries don't also get a different set of justice. No, not all the time but neither do they in Thailand either. Be it lawyers or even doctors the rich are going to get the best. Just look at the system of traffic or criminal fines in most developed nations ... is it based on percentage of income? What does a $100 ticket mean to a super rich person compared to one who makes minimum wage? My point was simply to say that corruption exists everywhere but they just legalize and call it different names in the developed world. Do you really think that big corporations or the rich donate to political parties without expecting something in return be it government jobs or contracts? The year Microsoft faced US deregulation is the same year in they were the largest donor to both the Democratic and Republican party ... even with near 95% of computers running Windows they were of course not deemed a monopoly.

You are living in La-la land.

I have seen you espouse petty corruption and bribery on more than one occasion in other posts.

When someone calls you out on it you obfuscate, deny and trot out the tired "corruption exists everywhere" nonsense in some vain and ridiculous attempt to get Thailand off the hook.

This is a wholly corrupt, immoral, unethical and greedy society. World's apart from the society I grew up in. Every time you try to peddle the nonsense that where I come from is somehow the same offends me and others that grew up with ethics.